No. 15 Nebraska Powers Past Iowa State, 10-3

LINCOLN, Neb. – No. 15 Nebraska powered four home runs out of Bowlin Stadium Wednesday evening to prevail past Iowa State 10-3. The loss dropped the Cyclones to 16-10, while the Cornhuskers improved to 19-8.

A Strong StartThings got off to a good start for Iowa State as the Cyclones shut down the Huskers offense early. After an error by Lexi Slater to start the game, Katie Johnson shut things down, not allowing a hit and only conceding two walks in the first three innings.

The Fateful Fourth InningNebraska broke up Johnson’s no-hitter in style with a big fly to dead centerfield to put the Huskers ahead 1-0. An Alicia Armstrong triple off the wall led to a Kiki Stokes single to improve the NU lead to 2-0. The Huskers got another hit to get two runners on, but it looked like Johnson had settled things down by retiring two straight batters. However, MJ Knighten, with a little help from the wind, powered one over the wall in right to move Nebraska ahead 5-0.

The next batter saw the end of Johnson’s day as Taylor Edwards hit a home run off the scoreboard in left to make it 6-0. Iowa State brought in Paris Imholz to get some work after that.

Iowa State Gets on the BoardThe Cyclone offense got to work in the fifth inning. Rachel Hartman led off with a walk to start the inning. Two batters later Sara Rice hit a grounder to short which looked like it would end the inning via a double play, but the Cyclones caught a break as first baseman Dawna Tyson dropped the throw to first to keep the inning alive.

After a Maddie Reese walk, Brittany Gomez hit a grounder to third that looked like it would end the inning. Knighten’s throw was wild and off the wall and into right field. That allowed Rice to score and then Reese came home as Kat Woolman’s throw from right ended up in the Iowa State dug out down first to make it 6-2 Huskers.

Sara Hawryluk then came up and got a hit for the seventh consecutive game with a single to left to score Gomez, who made it all the way to third on the errors from the previous play to make the score 6-3 Nebraska.

The Grand SlamImholz struggled to find the zone in the bottom of the fifth inning. She started with a four-pitch walk to Armstrong and then hit Stokes with a pitch to put two on. After another four-pitch walk to Tyson, the bases were loaded for Kylee Muir. The Nebraska left fielder used the wind to power a big shot over the wall in right to move Nebraska ahead 10-3.

On DeckIowa State will return to Ames to begin a seven-game home stand at the Cyclones Sports Complex with a doubleheader against Northern Illinois on Sunday. First pitch of the first game will be at noon and game two will begin immediately following the conclusion of the first game.